Detroit Pistons center Andre Drummond (0) talks with interim head coach John Loyer during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the San Antonio Spurs in Auburn Hills, Mich., Monday, Feb. 10, 2014. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

auburn hills >> Nobody saw it coming.

The Pistons fired head coach Mo Cheeks just 50 games into his tenure Sunday and many of the players admitted Monday it took them by surprise.

“It was definitely a surprise to me,” Pistons’ big man Greg Monroe said. “It wasn’t something I was expecting. I wish him the best. You never want to see anybody lose their job. It was just a big surprise to me.”

“Just the timing of it was surprising on my end,” Kyle Singler said. “I’m just a second-year player so I don’t have a lot of experience with these sort of things. I think everyone will say this change was surprising. But I think in some ways a move was expected. But was it the head coach? I don’t think anyone really expected that.”

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Owner Tom Gores declared before the season he expected the Pistons to make the playoffs. With the Pistons struggling to play with any consistency, ownership decided Cheeks wasn’t the right guy for the job.

“They want to win. Obviously we weren’t doing that so ownership thought we needed a change,” Pistons guard Rodney Stuckey said. “They thought coach wasn’t leading us so they made a change. It is what is. This is a business. John Loyer is our head coach now.”

The Pistons now turn to Loyer, who has no head coaching experience in the NBA, but has been an assistant coach in the league for 11 years, including the last three with Detroit.

Loyer picked up his first NBA head coaching win Monday as the Pistons defeated the Spurs 109-100. The win improves the Pistons to 22-29 and puts them in a tie with Charlotte for the final playoff spot in the East.

Whether it was the wakeup call of Cheeks getting fired or the coaching of Loyer, the Pistons seemed to click Monday. Loyer is well liked by the players, which should bode well for him.

“I’m excited for John,” Pistons veteran Chauncey Billups said. “I’m happy he gets the opportunity. He’s always very prepared. He’s always very energetic at all times. I don’t know what we’re going to do in second halves, he won’t have a voice. He always loses his voice in the first half so I don’t know, we are going to have to help him coach a little bit in the second halves. I’m interested to see his press conferences after the game too.”

All joking aside, Loyer has been preparing for a shot as an NBA head coach for some time and even though he admitted he was “disappointed” Cheeks was let go, he intends to make the most of the opportunity.

“I’ve never really sat down and formulated a plan for my coaching career,” Loyer said. “I enjoy coaching whether it be as a head coach or assistant coach. I do enjoy our guys. I’ve enjoyed them the last three years having coached most of them. I’m ready for the challenge. I’m excited about it. Like I told our guys today, this is where I want to be.

“I think people undersell players,” Loyer added. “Players figure things out. They know whether you’re a head coach or an assistant coach, one, whether you know your stuff. Two, whether you’re in it for the right things. Three, can you make them better. And four, are you a good leader. As a head coach or assistant coach, guys figure that out. I’ll take my chances with what they’ve figure out over the last few years.”

Loyer admitted there is extra pressure on the head coach, but said assistant coaches have pressure too. He plans to gradually makes some changes and is confident the team can make a run at the playoffs with the current roster.

“I think this group can win,” Loyer said. “This is who we have. As a coach that’s not even in our day-to-day framework or thought process. We coach the team they give us. We think it’s a good group. I think it’s a group that can be very successful.”

To be successful Loyer feels the team needs to pound the glass and improve their shooting.

“We should be a dominant rebounding team,” Loyer said. “We are playing guys with size, we have very good athleticism. We need to dominate the boards. You look at our wins, we are pretty dominant. You look at games where it’s even or we’re not ahead, we struggle. We gotta dominant the glass.

“I think we have very good length, but we should be a much better shot blocking team. We should be a very good team at protecting the rim. I think that’s something we can improve upon. We have not shot the ball well. When you’re 30th in 3-point shooting and 30th in free-throw percentage, there’s two stats you gotta improve on. That will be a challenge for us everyday.”